How do you share the gospel message with other people? Just the thought of it can be paralyzing. “You mean, I’m supposed to actually talk to other people about my faith? How will I know what to say?”
The answer to the first question is “yes,” and the answer to the second question is what we’re going to discuss today.
In Ephesians 6, we have the list of the spiritual armor we are supposed to wear. As we’re putting it on, verse fifteen says, “having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.”
The right shoes are important because if your feet are uncomfortable, it’s hard to do anything. When I was a kid, we would sometimes play so long in the snow that our boots would become waterlogged, so we would change our socks, put bread bags over our feet, put the boots back on, and out we’d go again. It’s no fun to go sledding when your feet are freezing.
You may have heard of the terrible winter of 1777-1778 that George Washington spent with his men at Valley Forge. The lack of supplies prompted Washington to write that the men were “without shoes, by which their marches might be traced by the blood from their feet.” It’s hard to be a good soldier when you have no boots!
The Roman soldiers of Paul’s day wore caligae, which were like sandals with straps of leather placed where they wouldn’t cause blisters, allowing the soldier to march for long distances. They also sometimes hammered pieces of iron into the soles which provided traction and gave them a weapon against a fallen enemy—they could trample him.
Last Father’s Day, and after going out for our family meal, my wife and I took our daughter to look for a new pair of shoes. Not any pair of shoes, mind you, but the pair of shoes. Apparently, a slight variance in design or color can transform an “in” shoe into an “out” shoe. Since she was buying them herself, we went along with it. I thought, “Yes, I definitely have a girl teenager.”
So, today we’re going shoe-shopping so we can have our feet shod with the “gospel of peace.” Before we do that, though, we need to understand what the “gospel of peace” is, but hang on until the end because I’m going to give you a few practical tips to help you know how to share your faith.
The word “gospel” simply means “good news.” So, the gospel of peace is the good news of peace. Ultimately, peace only comes through a restored relationship with God. That’s the message of salvation.
On January 15, 2009, Captain Chelsey “Sully” Sullenburger landed a plane in the Hudson River after the engines went out. It could have been a tragedy, but no lives were lost. Was he lucky? No—he was prepared. Not only was he an instructor of safety and an accident investigator, but at the time of the crash, he was studying the psychology behind keeping an airline crew functioning during a crisis. One hundred fifty-five lives were saved because he was prepared.
But, how do we get prepared?
First, know what you believe.
You can’t share something that you don’t know! Study for yourself and be places where you can get good teaching, like church or Bible studies. You may not always learn something new, but repetition helps to make it stick. After all, that’s probably how you learned your multiplication tables. The more you hear it, the more you have it.
Second, know why you believe it.
In our culture, it’s seen as a virtue to question everything. While we may not have specific, evidential reasons for everything we believe, we should evaluate what we believe not only to make sure it’s true, but to be able to defend it to other people.
Third, after we know what we believe and why we believe it, we should practice sharing what we believe.
Third, practice sharing it.
Sometimes we might know what we think, but putting it into words can be pretty difficult. So, let me give you three tips that might help.
Tip #1: Write it out. It might be your personal testimony or basic information about the gospel. You don’t necessarily have to memorize it—you’re just trying to get your thoughts in order.
Tip #2: Rehearse it, both in your head and out loud. Go over it with a friend or your dog, a tree, or whatever. The more you say it out loud, the more comfortable it becomes.
Tip #3: Find helpful tools. We used to pass out tracks that had like 10,000 words in them—not many people will read that. However, there are some good, visually appealing tracts available. I also have used things as simple as the Wordless Book, or I just grab a piece of paper and draw out some illustrations.
So, how do you prepare to share the gospel of peace? Three steps—know what you believe, know why you believe it, and practice sharing it. Then you’ll be ready to go out and recruit other soldiers to join you in the battle.
